Day One...and we're off and walking!

2002 Boston 3-Day

"You must do the thing you think cannot do." ~Eleanor Roosevelt

Day One: May 17, 2002

Fitchburg to Devens

The weather forecast for the weekend was a little iffy so the first thing I did at 4:30am was jump out of bed and look out. Yes, it was dark and raining. I couldn't believe it! We got ready to go, packed up and took one last trip to the car. On our way back, it stopped raining and the sun rose. I was psyched! Kathey and I took our bags to the gear truck (Truck H rocks!) and went inside to wait. We met up with our new friends, Nancy, Karen from CT and her tentmate, Nancy from Alaska! We also met Gretchen, Karen's walker leader and even found Sandy, who we went on training walks with. It was great! Everyone was ready to go.

The Opening Ceremony started at 7am. I had been warned by past walkers that it would put me in tears and it sure did. There was a great speech with the theme "I am alive" and then the survivor circle....it was very moving. The first walkers started out around 7:30 am.

I had heard to stay near the back of the room so you could be the first out the door but this year they changed it. They had the front rows exit first and we were in the middle of the pack. As we walked down the hill out onto the road, we could see the line of thousands of walkers in front of us. It was quite a sight!

We had a bottleneck around mile 1. The route went through a nature trail but because of the previous night's rain, part of the trail had flooded. All 4,000 walkers had to go single-file. We waited about 45 minutes to get through the trail but with everyone to talk to around us, the time went by fast. A few members of Team Hope from Gloucester, MA were with us and they were so nice. Kathey and I handed out smiley face stickers to everyone around us - it became quite a hobby to collect stickers from all the pit stops along the way. You've never seen grown adults get be so happy to get free stickers! We also walked with some of the Sole Sisters team, they were awesome!

The pit stops were amazing! Each one had a different theme and the crew was terrific. The first stop was the Bee Hive with the theme "Pee with the Bees!" Other themes included Tooth Fairy Land, complete with plastic tooth bracelets and men wearing tulle skirts; the Chicago Blues stop where "drinks are on the house"; the pit stop with the stars you could write on and they had them strung along the way; Under the Sea with the lobster and Ariel who gave out rings to us all and Aloha Luau lunch Day One.

Besides the great crew, each pit stop had plenty of water and Gatorade in a variety of (yucky!) colors. There were snacks every few stops - all the lollipops, pretzels, bagels, fruit and peanut butter you can imagine.

I saw both Karen and her friends and Nancy coming back from lunch. They were headed in as we were heading back out! It was nice to sit down in the grass and change my socks. The first day it was weird to sit down and play with your feet after eating but everyone did it and we all were so happy doing so!

The weather held out for us. It clouded up at lunch a little bit but it was otherwise perfect! We had a lot of people cheering us along the way. That was one of the most amazing things about the walk. Everyone thanked us, supported us and applauded us. Our "Sweep Vans" were the first to get us excited and as they drove the route to make sure we were all doing well, they honked and cheered us on. We walked through residential areas and people in their lawns would say "Thank you for walking for me" and some offered us water and snacks. Others put out signs like "3-Day Walkers are the best - we love you!"

My first favorite group of cheerers on Day One was in front of a daycare about halfway through the day. The little boys and girls were all lined up outside on the grass and they sang to us as we all walked by. It was the cutest thing ever!

My second favorite moment was when we walked by an elementary school in Shirley. The entire student body from kindergarten to 6th grade was lined up outside. They lined the route down one street and around the corner to the next street. All of them gave us high-fives and thanked us with signs like "We promise we won't smoke" and "We always will take care of ourselves". One little girl asked me to hug her beanie baby so she could tell her mom about it. It was awesome.

We made it to the last Pit Stop and were told we had two miles to go! It was pretty warm and almost 3:00 pm. I was getting tired and just wanted to get to camp. The last two miles seemed like the longest. But finally we got the the loudest cheering all day - it was camp! We made it!

Crew members checked us in and we were somewhere around the 1300th walkers to finish that day. Camp was amazing - it really did look like a mobile city. We found our Gear Truck and then our tent. We had the best Gear Crew - our tent was already set up when we got there! It was so nice of them to do that. Our bags were right near us so we got them and dragged them back to "home".

I wanted nothing more than to take of my shoes and sit down! No blisters or any problems of any kind. I felt really great but just wanted to take a shower and eat. So that was the plan! The mobile showers are in tractor-trailer trucks and they were really neat. The water was hot - that's all the mattered to me! Then we went to eat dinner. It was delicious. We checked out camp services - the message board, general store and the remembrance tent - then went back to rest.

Our tent was the best decorated one in the entire tent city! We tied hot pink feather boas, pink balloons and a big smiley face flower. Everyone loved it and people came by to take pictures! It was fun.

Karen from Alaska finished so we got to talk to her for awhile. What a great woman! Then Karen from CT finished and she was ready to check out camp too. Part of camp services is a news presentation with the day's events and weather but I did not want to walk back to see it. Rain was in the forecast so we put our plastic over our tent and got ready just in case. As soon as it got dark we went to bed and I think I was sound asleep at 9pm.

Onto Day Two...or the Photo Album